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Reaction to heart surgery review announcement

The secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, has suspended plans to reform children’s heart surgery services in England following publication of an independent report on the Safe and Sustainable Review. NHS England will now lead a rethink of plans to improve children’s heart surgery in England.

In response to the announcement, Dr Michael Marsh, medical director at UHS, said: “Following this decision, we want to reassure families that the Southampton-Oxford partnership will continue to thrive and provide children from across the south of England with a high quality, high performing service that will continue to grow and expand over the coming weeks and months.

“Once again, we cannot thank our patients and their families enough for their tremendous support throughout this process and they should all be extremely proud of the part they have played in helping us to firmly establish Southampton’s reputation as an international centre of excellence for children’s heart services.

“There is much for us to reflect positively on from this experience and we now look forward to helping NHS England complete the reconfiguration process to ensure all children have access to the highest quality surgical centres.”